


Sweep You Off Your Feet

by LadySokolov



Series: The Further Education of John Doe [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Dates, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 09:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14668490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySokolov/pseuds/LadySokolov
Summary: Sequel to Kissing Lessons.Bruce continues John's education in seduction by taking him out to a fancy restaurant and spoiling him rotten. Things don't go exactly as Bruce was planning though, and something is clearly bothering John. Hopefully Bruce can work out what's wrong in time to salvage the date and truly sweep John off his feet.





	Sweep You Off Your Feet

SWEEP YOU OFF YOUR FEET

Bruce adjusted his tie for what was probably the tenth time in as many minutes, and took another look around the deserted street. He felt ludicrously overdressed for this part of town and far too conspicuous, and was half-expecting someone to jump out from the shadows and try to mug him at any moment.

He was, at least in theory, waiting for John Doe, his date for the evening. He was starting to be tempted to walk into the Pact’s base and find John himself, but Bruce knew there was no way he could show up there dressed as he was. Bane would surely have something to say about him being a spoiled, stuck-up aristocrat, and Harley would never let Bruce live it down.

The problem was that Bruce wasn’t just wearing a suit; which would admittedly have already been more well-dressed than he ever was around the Pact; he was wearing his _finest_ suit; one that complemented his figure exquisitely, and which was usually reserved for any time his playboy persona wanted to make a particularly good impression on a woman.

He was wearing it tonight because he was supposed to be taking John on a fancy date.

It was only now, while he was waiting for John and wondering what on earth John would be wearing when he finally emerged from the Pact’s base, that Bruce started to wonder whether the date had been a terrible idea.

He just couldn’t bring himself to say ‘no’ to John these days though, and this date was far from the first time he had agreed to do something with John that he probably shouldn’t have. Hell, the kissing lessons that had begun whatever the strange relationship was that he and John shared were an excellent example. Any sane person would have surely put a stop to them after the first ‘lesson’ had gone awry, but Bruce had gone back time and time again, until he had ended up here, waiting next to a car that probably cost more than an entire city block in this part of Gotham, for a criminal to emerge from an abandoned subway so that he could take him to a five star restaurant.

How on earth had he gotten into this mess?

It was a pointless question really. Bruce could remember the exact conversation that had led to this evening, and he found himself thinking back on it while he waited for John to appear.

“Bruce, you have to teach me something else!” John had said, his eyes shining as he looked up at Bruce. He had looked so excited and so eager and so happy that Bruce had agreed almost immediately, without even thinking the matter through first.

“What do you want me to teach you this time?” Bruce asked John.

“I dunno,” John replied. “Anything!”

The problem was that Bruce was starting to run out of ideas for things that he could teach John. Bruce had already spent several encounters teaching John everything that he could as far as bedroom activities went, and even though the relevance that some of Bruce’s lessons would have if John had been with a woman and not with Bruce was negligible or completely nonexistent, the two of them had yet to abandon the fiction that this was all in the name of helping John out with Harley.

Bruce was fairly certain that John knew just as well as he did that the excuse was starting to wear thin. After all, John had barely paid any attention at all to Harley over the past few days. Instead he had taken to sneaking off with Bruce any chance he got, always begging Bruce for more ‘lessons.’ It wasn’t as though Bruce minded, although perhaps he should have objected; not because he didn’t want to spend as much time with John as possible, but because they were starting to get a little too obvious, to the stage that Harley had even pulled Bruce aside and given him a thorough talking to.

Bruce had cast aside the thought of teaching John further lovemaking skills. He wanted to do something nice for John. He wanted this to be more than whatever they were pretending it was.

“How about a date?” Bruce had replied.

John had looked at him quizzically, his mouth opening a little and one of his eyebrows rising higher on his face than the other. Bruce could practically read the other man’s thoughts in his expressions, and found it strangely endearing.

“A date?” John repeated.

“Yeah,” Bruce said. “I mean, you’ve got kissing and all the other physical aspects of seduction down pretty much perfectly now, but if you’re going to successfully seduce Harley then I think we need to step up your game date wise.”

“Uh huh,” John said. “And you’re going to teach me this the same way that you’ve taught me everything else?”

“Of course,” Bruce said.

He had taken a step closer to John then, cupping the other man’s chin with his hand and forcing John to look into his eyes. His other hand slipped down to entwine with John’s own. Bruce had been able to feel the other man’s heartrate speeding up as soon as he had touched John’s hand.

“I’m going to sweep you off your feet,” Bruce had promised, before leaning in to plant a passionate kiss to John’s lips.

There had been a quick but passionate round of lovemaking, which John had actually asked Bruce to critique once they were done. Luckily Bruce had been able to say that John’s performance had been excellent while still giving him a couple of pointers. Keeping up the pretense that this was all for someone else really was beginning to feel pointless, but Bruce wasn’t willing to drop it until John did.

The two of them had made dinner plans while John was still curled up next to Bruce, one of his legs thrown over Bruce’s own, his hand resting on Bruce’s naked chest.

All of which had led to Bruce standing there in the middle of a mostly deserted alley, feeling like a fool and wondering if John was ever going to appear.

Perhaps John had cold feet? Bruce could never be angry with him if that was the case. It was one thing for the two of them to sneak a few moments together in secret; another thing entirely for the two of them to be out on a date in public. Even if the tabloids never got wind of it, Harley was probably going to be pissed.

Oh god. Harley.

Bruce hadn’t even thought about her. It was possible that Harley had already found out what Bruce and John were planning, and had held him back. Who knew what she could have done to John in her anger? There were the other Pact members to consider as well.

Bruce started to feel sick to his stomach as he waited. He couldn’t ever remember feeling this nervous about a date before, but then again he had never cared about the person he was dating as much as he now cared about John.

Soon John appeared on the other side of the road, or at least part of him did. He hid behind the entrance to the Pact’s base, sticking out just his head and one of his hands and hiding the rest of his body behind the brick wall, as though he was embarrassed or hesitant to let Bruce see him for some reason.

Bruce smiled over at him and waved. Bruce caught just the hint of a smile on John’s face, before he stepped out and started walking towards Bruce, waving back at Bruce as he did.

Bruce didn’t know why John had been so hesitant. He was wearing the same black vest and purple shirt combo that he had worn to Lucius’s funeral, as well as black pants and shoes. Compared to some of John’s other clothing choices, it was incredibly respectable and probably the best that Bruce could have expected from his date. Not that Bruce would have minded if John had shown up wearing something a little brighter and more garish, but it gave anyone that spotted the two of them one less thing to gossip about.

“Hi John,” Bruce said as the other man came to a stop in front of him. He slid an arm around John’s waist and pulled him close.

“You look amazing,” he told John. As far as Bruce was concerned it was the truth. He hadn’t really been able to appreciate how flattering this particular outfit was on John when they had met up at the funeral, but now that he could he found himself seized with the desire to cancel the date altogether and just push John up against the side of the car and ravish him right then and there.

John rolled his eyes and smiled at Bruce.

“ _You_ look amazing Bruce,” he said. “I look…”

He scoffed, possibly at himself and his own perceived lack of style.

“Seriously Bruce,” John continued. “You’re super handsome and you said that this place we’re going to is fancy and I’m... well…”

John paused and shrugged before looking up at Bruce.

“I’m just me,” he concluded. “Are you sure that’s going to be enough?”

Bruce had come to recognize that the other man wasn’t really as confident as his usual demeanor would lead most people to believe, but it was rare for John to be so open and honest about it about his insecurities.

Bruce looked up and down John for a moment, pretending to be thoroughly inspecting John and his outfit, before he nodded.

“You’re right,” he said. “There’s definitely something missing. Hold on a moment.”

John looked absolutely crushed. Bruce hoped that what he was planning to do next would make up for it, at least a little. He opened the back of the car and reached in. When he came back out he was holding a large bouquet of purple roses.

John’s eyes went wide as Bruce handed the bouquet to him. He needed both arms to hold the arrangement. Luckily Bruce had bought thornless roses, so neither of them had to worry about that.

Bruce grabbed one of the roses; one that already had wide open petals, and separated the bloom from most of its stem and from the rest of the bouquet. He then leaned closer to John and tucked the rose into the buttonhole of John’s vest.

“There,” Bruce said. “That looks much better.”

“Are these…” John breathed, pausing to take a deep breath of the roses’ sweet scent. “Are these really for me Bruce?”

“Of course,” Bruce said. “First lesson of the night; if you’re going to really sweep a woman off her feet, you have to make her feel special. It doesn’t even have to be flowers.”

John didn’t even acknowledge that he had heard what Bruce had to say. He just took another deep breath of the roses’ sweet scent, before smiling up at Bruce again.

“These are beautiful,” he told Bruce.

He was grinning from ear to ear now; any earlier sign of his nervousness having disappeared completely.

“I’m glad you like them,” Bruce said.

Inside he was melting, he just felt so soft and warm and so madly in love with John, but he knew that if he gave into that feeling then they would probably never even make it as far as the restaurant. Whether Bruce liked it or not he had a job to do; and that job was to teach John how to the most perfect, charming date imaginable. Bruce was well aware of the fact that he was mostly using the date as an excuse to spoil John as much as possible, but he wasn’t going to admit it, at least not to John.

“Wow!” John said, pushing past Bruce, flowers still in his arms, to stare at Bruce’s car in amazement. Bruce realized it was the first time the other man had seen his sports car up close.

“This is your car!?” John exclaimed.

He shoved the bouquet back into Bruce’s arms and ran to open the front passenger door, laughing excitedly as he did. He poked his head inside for a moment before pulling it back out and turning to face Bruce with an excited smile clear on his face.

“I guess I should have expected it right?” John said. “I mean, your car is just as fancy as you are Bruce.”

John immediately slid into the passenger seat and closed the door behind him. Bruce stood on the street for a moment longer, holding the flowers and trying not to be too disappointed. He had been hoping to hold the door open for John. As a gesture it might perhaps be a little outdated, but he had a feeling that John would enjoy that sort of cheesy, vintage style of romance.

Bruce sighed, placed the flowers in the back of the car and then forced himself to smile at John as he slid into the driver’s seat. Bruce’s smile might have been forced, but the one that John was wearing couldn’t have been any more real or more enthusiastic if he tried. He was practically jumping up and down in his chair he was so excited.

“So what have we learned so far tonight?” Bruce asked John as he did up his seat belt.

John clutched his own seat belt, which had already been tightly fastened before Bruce had entered the car, and beamed over at Bruce.

“That you are incredibly rich and handsome and charming,” John said, the unexpected flattery and sincerity of John’s words catching Bruce off guard.

“I… what?” Bruce said, before shaking his head. “No, what have you learned about how to impress someone when you’re on a date with them?”

“Um…”

John actually appeared to think about it this time.

“Bring flowers?” John began. “And a super fancy car if you have one?”

“Not really the answer I was hoping for,” Bruce said. “Although I suppose you can’t really go wrong with flowers.”

When Bruce looked at John again he found the other man staring at him, clearly waiting for further instruction.

“Always arrive on time,” Bruce said. “Dress nicely, although I can see you’ve already got that part covered.”

John let out another chuckle at that, one which gave Bruce the distinct impression that John was particularly proud that he had earned such a compliment from Bruce.

“And always pay attention to your date,” Bruce said.

“Uh huh,” John said.

He was staring at Bruce now and leaning in towards Bruce’s chair, paying such close attention that it was a little unnerving.

“Maybe not that much attention,” Bruce said.

“And compliments are good too right?” John asked as Bruce put the car into gear and slowly pulled away from the curb.

“Sure,” Bruce said. At least John had learned that much.

“Bruce, you are seriously the most handsome man I have ever seen,” John said. “Seriously. The _most_ handsome. I have never seen anyone more handsome than you, even on TV!”

Bruce could feel himself blushing.

“You’re laying it on a bit thick, don’t you think?” Bruce asked.

“Nope. I don’t think so.”

“So you’re the expert now, are you?”

“Yeah. Expert on how handsome you are.”

Bruce didn’t need to look at John to tell that there would be a sly grin on his face. He rolled his eyes, and found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop the smile that was breaking out on his own face.

“If you think you’re so much better at compliments then I am then you should prove it,” John said, folding his arms in front of his chest and sitting back in his chair.

It would have been easy enough to remind John that Bruce being more experienced at dates and seducing people was the point of their outing, but it was easier still (and far more fun) for Bruce to go along with John’s game.

“All right,” Bruce said.

He thought it over for a moment. There was plenty that he liked about John; plenty of compliments that he could give which would all be incredibly heartfelt and sincere. He loved how John made him feel alive and how John seemed to see the world in a different way to everyone else. He’d grown to love John’s laugh, and his smile, and the fact that John seemed to have no problem at all just coming out and saying how he felt, even if how he felt would be enough to embarrass most people.

Bruce couldn’t say any of that though. That was all perhaps a little too personal; a little too telling, and Bruce wasn’t sure that he was ready to actually admit how madly in love he was with the other man just yet; not while they were still maintaining the lie that this was all just so John could later go away and impress someone else.

It was a lie, wasn’t it?

“John,” Bruce said, putting on his most charming smile and telling himself that John was no different from the dozens of women that Bruce had taken back to Wayne Manor over the years.

“Did you know that your eyes are the most beautiful shade of green I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Like emeralds.”

It wasn’t exactly true. Bruce _did_ think that John’s eyes were a beautiful color, but they reminded him more of fresh summer grass and Alfred’s key lime pie than anything as cold and hard as emeralds, but emeralds did feel more romantic, and the comparison of someone’s eyes to precious stones always seemed to charm any woman that Bruce tried it on.

John went silent for a moment, his mouth hanging open as he stared across at Bruce, before his face suddenly lit up and he let out a brief, joyful laugh.

“That was amazing Bruce,” he said. “Wow. That Wayne charm really is something, isn’t it?”

He seemed to think for a moment before clapping his hands excitedly.

“So perhaps I should go for something a little more specific huh?” John said. “Oh, I know!”

Bruce glanced over to catch just a moment of John’s own charming but fake-as-hell grin before the other man spoke.

“Bruce, your hair makes me think of the midnight sky, so dark and deep and uh…”

John trailed off, clearly lost, before letting out another giggle that he quickly tried to smother with his hands.

“Not bad,” Bruce said. “You almost got there.”

They spent the rest of the trip trading compliments, which grew more ridiculous and, at least as far as John’s compliments for Bruce were concerned, more sickeningly sweet as time went on and they grew closer to their destination.

Bruce hadn’t told John where they were going ahead of time; just that they would be getting dinner and that John should dress up.

‘Lazlo’s’ wasn’t the fanciest restaurant in Gotham, boasting only four and a half stars rather than five. Usually when Bruce was trying to impress a date or a business associate he would take them to a place with a little more prestige. Bruce preferred Lazlo’s though. Not only did they know him and were willing to accommodate some of his more unusual requests, the atmosphere was quieter, the layout of the place a little more private, and the food was a little simpler; being served in larger, heartier portions than would be found in any of Gotham’s five star restaurants. Besides, Lazlo’s did an exceptionally good lobster thermidor; the only one in Gotham that Bruce judged as being the equal of Alfred’s.

John’s eyes grew wide as they pulled up in front of the restaurant. A large, brightly lit sign out the front proclaimed the name of the restaurant, although Bruce doubted that John would have heard of it.

“This is where we’re getting dinner?” John asked. “Wow. It’s so fancy Bruce. Just like you.”

Bruce wondered whether John had intended for that to be another compliment.

Bruce stepped out of the car and practically ran over to John’s door. This time he was quick enough that he got the chance to open John’s door for him.

“Are we just leaving the flowers in the car?” John asked, glancing over his shoulder to where the bouquet was sitting on the back seat. “Will they be okay?”

Bruce hadn’t really thought about what was going to happen to the flowers beyond presenting them to John, and he grimaced.

“We’ll only be in the restaurant for an hour or two,” he told John. “I’m sure they’ll be fine until then.”

Bruce had given plenty of flowers before that night, but he had never really received them or given them much thought beyond the initial gift-giving. Bruce realized in that moment that he had absolutely no idea how to actually take care of flowers, or whether the roses that he had bought John would survive the rest of their date.

John didn’t look convinced.

“Trust me?” Bruce tried, laying the charm on thick once more.

He extended a hand to John, which John contemplated for a moment with a frown on his face, before he took Bruce’s hand and allowed Bruce to help him up and out of the car.

Bruce locked the car door and then entwined his arm with John’s own as they entered Lazlo’s restaurant.

The entry was decorated with an elaborate and well-maintained wooden lattice, which had flowering vines growing all over it. It meant that it was hard to see inside the restaurant, giving it an air of privacy that Bruce had always appreciated.

“Where is everybody?” John asked as the two of them entered the restaurant. “I mean, it’s not the weekend, so is it just super quiet tonight or what?”

Bruce cleared his throat, feeling a little nervous about what he was about to say. He hoped that John would be pleased, but no matter how well he thought he knew John these days the other man always seemed to find a way to catch Bruce off guard.

“Actually, I booked the place out,” Bruce said.

John’s eyes went wide as he turned to stare at Bruce.

Bruce readied a handful of different excuses. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of John. He just didn’t want the paparazzi to snap any more pictures of the two of them out and about together. Any more press might jeopardize his position within the Pact, and, perhaps even more worrying than that was the moment the press actually made sense of his relationship with John; stopped calling them ‘associates’ and started to speculate about the two of them potentially being a couple. With the amount of handholding and kissing Bruce planned to do that evening it certainly wouldn’t take a genius to make the leap.

“You did that for me?” John asked.

He didn’t sound angry. If anything he sounded as though he was in awe.

“Oh gosh Bruce,” John said, before wrapping his arms around Bruce in a loose hug. “That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me!”

Bruce looked around, feeling slightly awkward and embarrassed because of the pair of arms that were still wrapped loosely around his shoulders, and the fact that John had leaned in closer to Bruce and started nuzzling into his shoulder.

He and John might have spent plenty of moments being far more intimate with one another than John was being with Bruce right then, but that had been when they were alone. At that moment there were two different waiters watching them. Bruce caught the eyes of one of them and smiled sheepishly, wondering what on earth the other man was going to make of the display, but, like the flawless professional he was, the waiter did not act as though he had seen anything out of the ordinary at all.

Bruce made a mental note to leave a _very_ generous tip at the end of the night.

The staff waited until John had let go of Bruce’s shoulders, and then the waiter that Bruce had accidentally made eye contact with approached the two of them.

“This way to your table sirs,” he said, bowing low.

Bruce smiled, hooked his arm around John’s once more, and then the two of them started to follow the waiter further inside the restaurant.

John leaned closer to Bruce as the two of them walked, sharing a conspiratorial grin with him.

“He called me sir,” he whispered, giggling softly afterwards, and Bruce couldn’t help but smile down at the other man.

The waiter led the two of them over to a table in the middle of the restaurant. The other tables had been moved a fair way back from their own, leaving the two of them with what would have been an enormous amount of space and privacy, even if Bruce hadn’t booked the place out.

The lighting inside Lazlo’s was relatively dim; each table, including their own, being lit by an elaborate arrangement of candles. It gave the place a warm, romantic atmosphere that Bruce had always enjoyed, even though he’d never actually brought a date there before that evening. In fact the only people Bruce had ever brought to Lazlo’s had been Alfred, for a couple of birthday events, and Harvey, back when the two of them had often gone out for dinner together.

It was going to be nice, Bruce decided, to actually be able to take advantage of the romantic atmosphere for once.

Soft strains of distant music reached Bruce’s ears as he pulled John’s chair out for him. John stared at Bruce for a moment, as though he had absolutely no idea what Bruce was doing, before Bruce gestured for John to take a seat.

“It’s the gentlemanly thing to do,” he told John. “I mean, it’s a little old fashioned, but if you really want to spoil Harley…”

Bruce shrugged. John giggled again as Bruce pushed his chair in.

“Although knowing Harley a gesture like that might actually piss her off,” Bruce said.

“Well I liked it,” John said, smiling widely and making Bruce feel so warm and so fond that he had to look away from John for a moment, or else risk the goofy grin on his face giving away exactly how he felt about the other man.

“Candles are good too,” Bruce pointed out once he was seated comfortably opposite John. “Mood lighting can do wonders.”

“Whatever you say Bruce,” John said.

John was still smiling widely, but something seemed a little off, and Bruce couldn’t shake the feeling that John wasn’t quite as relaxed and happy as he was letting on. Bruce wondered if perhaps it had been a mistake to take John to somewhere like Lazlo’s, where he undoubtedly felt lost and out of place.

Bruce swallowed nervously, suddenly wondering whether everything he had planned for the night hadn’t just been one massive mistake. Oh well. It was too late to worry about that now. All that he could do was help guide John through the night and hope that he didn’t mess anything up too badly.

While Bruce had been preoccupied with berating his own lack of forethought and stupidity, John had already opened up the menu in front of him, and was scanning the options with obvious excitement.

“They have caviar!” John exclaimed loudly. “Oh Bruce, can we order that? I always thought it sounded so _fancy_.”

Bruce wondered whether John would actually enjoy caviar. He supposed there was only one way to find out.

“Of course,” Bruce said, grinning across the table at John. “You can order anything you that you like.”

Bruce expected John to smile in response to that, but instead the look that appeared on John’s face was one that Bruce had no idea how to read, although he had a terrible feeling that the look was actually one of disappointment.

Damn it. He really had screwed up. Lazlo’s might not have been five star levels of fancy or pretentious, but John probably still hadn’t tried more than a few of the items on the menu, and probably had no idea whether or not he would like most of it. Bruce found himself mentally running through what he had seen John eat and enjoy, trying to work out what he might be able to suggest that John order.

“Why is sweet bread listed as an entrée and not a desert?” John asked after a moment. “I would have thought something like that would have been saved strictly for after dinner. Or maybe, I don’t know, breakfast?”

“Sweetbreads aren’t actually bread,” Bruce pointed out.

“They’re not?” John asked, screwing up his face.

“No, they’re… ah… they’re meat,” Bruce said. “They’re quite good if cooked correctly.”

Bruce suddenly became aware of the waiter who was standing not too far away from their table.

“And I’m sure Lazlo’s cooks them to perfection,” he said, giving the waiter his most charming smile.

“The name is confusing,” John grumbled. “But if you think they’ll be good…”

“Why not give them a try, right?”

After a little more discussion the two of them ended up ordering Bruce’s usual lobster thermidore, as well as an assortment of smaller dishes and entrees to share. Bruce liked the idea mostly because it meant that this way they were practically guaranteed to have ordered at least a couple of dishes that John liked.

Bruce ordered a bottle of white wine to accompany their meal that was substantially sweeter than anything he would have usually picked on his own, figuring that John was far more likely to enjoy it than Bruce’s usual fair. Bruce didn’t even know what John would usually drink, except for the imported beer that Bruce had found in John’s house, and which seemed to be his beer of preference only because it was Bane’s beer of preference, and therefore extremely convenient. Bruce wondered if John had even had a chance to work out what he enjoyed.

“Just order me whatever you think I’ll like,” John had said when Bruce had asked him about ordering drinks.

Bruce hoped that he had made the right choice, and when the wine arrived he watched anxiously as John took his first sip of wine.

John screwed up his face a little bit, and for a moment Bruce was afraid that John really didn’t like the taste, but after a moment he realized that John was just thinking about it. John swallowed, and Bruce smiled across the table at him.

“So?” Bruce asked. “What do you think?”

“I guess it’s nice,” John replied. “It tastes kind of… I don’t know. Fruity? Bruce, how would you go about telling your very refined and classy date that you don’t really know anything at all about wine?”

Bruce chuckled softly, and gave John another charming smile.

“Honestly I don’t know much more than you,” Bruce admitted. “I mean, I’m good at pretending otherwise. A guy in my position is expected to know a lot about the finer things in life, but the truth is that most of the time I just let my date or the waiter decide what to order for me.”

“Wait,” John said, sounding a little concerned. “Do you even like this stuff Bruce?”

“Sort of,” Bruce said with a shrug. “I mean, it’s all right.”

John took another sip of the wine and this time he definitely frowned in response.

“This stuff costs a lot of money right?”

Bruce shrugged again. It had been one of the more expensive options on the restaurant’s wine list, but he hadn’t minded. He was supposed to be spoiling John after all.

“Why buy it if you only ‘sort of’ like it?” John asked, frowning across at Bruce.

The question caught Bruce off-guard. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to answer that. Because expensive wine was expected on this sort of date? Because he was Bruce Wayne, known billionaire, and _he_ was expected to spend money on such luxuries?

Neither of those answers seemed satisfactory to Bruce, even though they were both at least somewhat true.

“Because I thought you might enjoy it,” Bruce said instead, leaning forward on the table and grinning at John again.

John frowned and made a thoughtful noise again. He swirled the wine around in his glass for a moment before taking another large sip.

“You’re right,” John said. “It’s all right. I guess.”

Just ‘all right’. Probably not worth the amount of money Bruce had paid considering they were both only lukewarm on it and on the concept of wine in general.

The table went quiet, and Bruce turned his attention to his own glass.

“So…” John began as Bruce took his first sip of the wine. “How much money did it cost altogether to set this night up Bruce?”

Bruce almost spat the wine straight back out. It was only with great restraint that he managed to swallow it, but then he sat there, staring across at John, amazed at his date’s lack of tact and terrible timing. He didn’t mind. Not really. He just hadn’t expected John to just come out and ask something like that.

“That’s…” Bruce fumbled. “Um…”

“Get a load of this guy,” John said, winking at the waiter who had come by the table to drop off their many appetizers and gesturing at Bruce. “You’ve gotta watch out for that whole charming billionaire thing that he does. He sure knows how to splash his money around, huh?”

Bruce spluttered and mentally added another hundred dollars to the already substantial tip that he was planning to leave their waiters.

“John,” Bruce said, trying to get his date’s attention before John could say anything else.

“You’re supposed to be teaching me how to seduce Harley, right?” John said, and suddenly there was more menace behind John’s words and actions than Bruce had been expecting to see at all that night.

Bruce glanced down to the glass of wine that sat on the table in front of John, but as far as he could tell, John hadn’t had nearly enough of it to become drunk, so the alcohol couldn’t be to blame.

“Okay,” John said, rolling his eyes. “So let’s pretend that Bruce Wayne, charming billionaire playboy, is with a beautiful woman, and she says that. What are you going to say to her in response Bruce?”

John leaned forward on the table, his hands clasped in front of him. A smile had returned to his face, but Bruce wasn’t sure that it was one that he was glad to see on John’s face.

Bruce took a deep breath, then took another, much larger sip of the wine in his glass and tried to get himself under control. What _would_ charming billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne, say in response to such a question? Surely at least one or two of his dates had asked Bruce a similar question at one time or another.

Bruce leaned forward, swirling the wine in his glass as he did, and smiled his best, most charming smile at John; the one that always had his face feeling a little stiff and strange by the end of a charity gala.

“I won’t lie beautiful,” Bruce said. “It was a lot, but no price is too high to pay for the chance to see you smile.”

For a moment neither of them said anything, and then Bruce brought the glass of wine up to his mouth and downed the rest of it in one go.

“Wow,” John said as Bruce placed the empty glass back down on the table in front of him. “That was _definitely_ charming Bruce. Like, super charming. If I was one of your stupid girls I’d probably be swooning into your arms right now. So now I have another question for you.”

“Ask away John,” Bruce said, nursing his glass and eyeing the lobster that had just been dropped off in front of him. God, this really wasn’t anywhere near the cozy, romantic date that he had been picturing.

“How many women have you used that line on and how many of them actually bought it?” John asked, before pausing and screwing up his face again. “Well, I guess that was actually two questions, huh?”

Bruce got the distinct impression that John didn’t actually want to hear the answer to that question, no matter what the answer actually was.

“John,” Bruce began softly. He had clearly screwed up somewhere in all of this, but he still had absolutely no idea where, or what it was that he had done to cause John to be in such a bad mood.

“Is something wrong?” Bruce asked.

“This is all supposed to be about you teaching me how to seduce Harley, right?” John asked, staring Bruce down unflinchingly as he did. There was a challenge in his voice as well, as though he was daring Bruce to disagree with him.

“Of course,” Bruce replied.

John let out a huff and finally looked away from Bruce.

“Then how the hell am I supposed to replicate any of this?” John said. “It’s not as though I’m going to be able to afford to take anyone out to a fancy restaurant any time soon.”

Bruce’s heart sank. He really had been hoping they were past pretending that any of this had been about Harley. What hurt even worse was that John had a point. Bruce had spent too much time thinking about how he could spoil John and what John might enjoy and not nearly enough time thinking about what John might actually be able to learn from the evening. Bruce honestly hadn’t thought that he had needed to.

“You know what?” Bruce eventually said, trying to speak through the lump that had seemed to suddenly develop in his throat. “I don’t think replicating this night is that impossible. The candles shouldn’t be that difficult, and rather than taking someone out to a restaurant you could always try cooking for them instead.”

“Really?” John asked, sounding as though he didn’t believe Bruce at all.

“Sure,” Bruce said, laying the charm on thick, mostly to hide the fact that his heart was breaking. “The fact that you actually took the time to make a meal for someone is an excellent way to show them that you care, and besides, I’m sure you’d be a great cook.”

John didn’t look any more convinced than he had before.

“Well…” Bruce cleared his throat. “You’d have to be better than me at any rate.”

That earned Bruce a smile from John, as well as a quiet chuckle that warmed Bruce all the way to the tips of his toes and his fingers. Perhaps things weren’t completely lost after all.

“Ooh!” John suddenly exclaimed, seeming to notice the food in front of them for the first time. “The food is here. So which one is the bread that isn’t bread?”

* * *

The atmosphere immediately grew more cordial as the two of them moved onto the food and sampled all of the dishes. John wanted to try everything, and to Bruce’s immense relief, he enjoyed all but a couple of the appetizers they had ordered, even the sweetbread, and even approved of Bruce’s lobster thermidor, although, also to Bruce’s relief, he let Bruce eat most of that dish by himself.

Bruce was going to ask John whether he wanted desert, but John stretched back in his chair in an exaggerated fashion, before patting his belly.

“Ooh boy Bruce,” he said. “I’m stuffed. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that much food in one go before.”

“So did you like it?” Bruce asked.

“It was all right I suppose,” John said, grinning at Bruce as he did. “Very fancy. Not sure I’d want to eat it all the time though. Oh geez Bruce. Is this just like… normal food for you?”

“Only when I’m trying to impress someone special,” Bruce replied, smiling over at John again. He wondered whether John would agree to have dinner with him back at Wayne Manor, and whether Alfred would mind cooking for him. He had a sneaking suspicion that John would approve of some of Alfred’s simpler cooking than he did the richer food at Lazlo’s.

John let out a small, thoughtful noise in response to Bruce’s statement, and Bruce wondered whether he had done something wrong again.

“Just remember to compliment Harley if you ever take her out like this,” Bruce said, wondering if it was just the fact that he had failed to actually teach John anything while the two of them had been eating. “Make sure she feels special. Everyone likes that.”

John apparently didn’t have anything to say in response to that. In fact he didn’t seem to respond to Bruce’s words at all, except to let out a soft sigh.

Thankfully one of Lazlo’s wait staff swung by the table at that moment to save Bruce.

“Excuse me sir,” the waiter said, leaning close to Bruce so that he could whisper discreetly in Bruce’s ear. “Am I correct in assuming that you are hoping to make a good impression on this gentleman?”

Bruce glanced over at John and nodded.

“I guess?” he replied.

He wasn’t even sure anymore what he was hoping to get out of the evening. He wanted John to be happy, but apart from that Bruce was feeling more than a little confused.

“Perhaps a little musical accompaniment?” the waiter suggested.

“Thank you,” Bruce replied. “That would be lovely.”

John’s brows twitched as he watched the two of them, and when the waiter departed he began staring at Bruce, clearly trying to work out what Bruce and the waiter had talked about.

Within moments the soft refrain of a violin started to echo throughout Lazlo’s. A man soon waltzed over to their table, guiding the violin that he held tucked under his chin in a soft, beautiful ballad that Bruce didn’t recognize, but which brought to mind lazy afternoons sipping champagne on the banks of the Seine.

“Oh gosh Bruce!” John exclaimed, his eyes immediately lighting up. “This is just like on TV!”

Bruce smiled softly over at him. This was, admittedly, just a touch more romance than he had ever organized for a single person before. It was worth it though to see the way that John’s face lit up.

John stood up from his chair and leaned over the table to grab Bruce’s hands in his own.

“Come on Bruce!” John exclaimed. “Let’s dance.”

“What?” Bruce said as he was pulled up from his chair.

“We can dance, right?”

The tune that the violinist was currently playing was not one that was particularly suited towards dancing; it was too slow and too sweet; unless of course John was planning on the two of them slow dancing, which Bruce suddenly realized wasn’t completely out of the question.

The violinist was accommodating though, and immediately switched to something with a slightly faster tempo as John dragged Bruce away from the table and to a relatively open section of the empty restaurant.

“I suppose that’s all right,” Bruce said, even though it felt as though John had already made his decision regardless of what Bruce said.

“Your hand goes here, right?” John asked as he guided Bruce’s hand to sit on his hip. “And my hand goes up here.”

John’s hand landed on Bruce’s shoulder, and the room suddenly felt a lot warmer.

“I suppose that’s right,” Bruce replied. “But it would probably work better the other way around.”

“Huh?”

“At the moment I’m leading,” Bruce said. “Wouldn’t it be better practice for you to lead? It’s going to be that way if you ever dance with Harley.”

Any trace of joy immediately left John’s face. He scoffed and took a step back from Bruce, dropping Bruce’s hand and removing his hand from Bruce’s shoulder as he went.

“Stop that,” John said.

“Stop what?” Bruce asked.

John scoffed again.

The music faded, and Bruce noted that the violin player had tactfully moved himself to the opposite side of the room, where his music could still be heard, but where his presence wasn’t nearly so intrusive.

Bruce reached out to grab both of John’s hands in his own. He held them close, caressing them and hoping that John would continue to allow that simple touch at least.

“Stop pretending!” John said, and when his hands moved it wasn’t to pull away from Bruce’s touch at all, but to grasp tightly at Bruce’s hands and intertwine their fingers.

“This isn’t for Harley,” John said. “We both know that now, so can we… Can we please stop pretending? I don’t want to know how to sweep Harley off her feet anymore. I just want to spend time with _you,_ and not with ‘Bruce Wayne, charming billionaire playboy…”

John had started to do what Bruce thought was an absolutely terrible impression of himself.

“I do not sound like that,” he interrupted.

“You sort of do buddy,” John said. “But it doesn’t matter what I think you sound like. What matters is that I’ve been dealing with that guy way too much this evening and I think I hate him. I want to spend time with _you_ Bruce. The real you. Not Harley, and not whoever the hell it is that you pretend to be around other people.”

John’s confession had Bruce stunned. He had known that something had been bothering John, but the fact that it was this; that John wanted the real Bruce and not the charming playboy; that John wanted to spend time with _him_ , without any pretenses and without any lies, was more than Bruce would have ever expected. No-one had ever wanted that from him before, and he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond without getting choked up.

“I guess I have something to confess to as well John,” Bruce said, massaging John’s hands, and letting the feel of them, now so familiar and comforting, ground him a little. “I’ve been relying on my public persona a little too much tonight because I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”

“What are you talking about Bruce?” John asked, letting out a short, nervous laugh as he did. “You’re _Bruce Wayne_. If anyone knows how to show someone a good time then it’s gotta be you.”

Bruce shook his head slowly.

“I might have taken a lot of people on dates like this before,” Bruce said. “But I’ve never actually cared about any of them before. At least not…”

Bruce took a deep breath and tried to still his racing heart. He realized that he had been clutching John’s hands so tightly that they must have hurt, but John hadn’t said a thing.

“Not what?” John prompted.

“Not like I care about you,” Bruce said. “God, I was so nervous about tonight John. I wanted everything to be perfect.”

“Bruce…”

“I’d never actually been nervous about a date before, or at least not as nervous as this. You did… you did actually like the flowers, didn’t you?”

Bruce realized that he had been rambling. It wasn’t something he usually found himself doing, unless he was extremely nervous.

Luckily John had his back. John leaned forward then, pressing his lips to Bruce’s own in a gentle kiss, silencing anything else that Bruce might have thought of to say.

The kiss didn’t go nearly as long as Bruce had been hoping, so as soon as John pulled back Bruce chased after his lips and stole another kiss.

John giggled as Bruce pulled back. He had grown a lot more confident since Bruce had first started to give him kissing lessons, and wasted no time in leaning in to initiate the next kiss.

The two of them traded kisses like that for a while; each kiss short and sweet, until the two of them were both grinning from ear to ear.

Bruce could hardly believe that any of it was real. It was only just starting to sink in that they had both admitted that they cared for one another; that all of the excuses John and then Bruce had used to spend time with one another had been just that; excuses.

“I love you John,” Bruce said, and just being able to finally say the words out loud felt even better than he thought it would.

John’s mouth fell open and he let out a soft gasp, so soft that Bruce barely heard it over the soft strains of violin.

“I mean it,” Bruce said. “I’m really quite madly in love with you John.”

John’s expression changed instantly, his face screwing up, and for a moment Bruce was afraid that John was going to start crying, so he squeezed John’s hands in his own, hoping that the gesture would be comforting.

“I love you too!” John eventually said, the words bursting out of his mouth. “I love you Bruce. I love you so much!”

He launched himself at Bruce, and then the two of them were trading kisses again, barely pausing between each one, so that when they eventually pulled apart, they were both panting.

“Can we just… maybe… I don’t know,” John whispered once he had gotten his breath back, his lips brushing against Bruce’s own as he spoke. “Get out of here and go somewhere else?”

“That sounds amazing,” Bruce said. 

He didn’t mind much what John wanted the two of them to do, as long as it still involved the two of them being together.

The two of them started to move and sway in time to the soft violin music that was still drifting over to them. Bruce didn’t worry so much about teaching John the proper steps; just let John’s movements guide him. 

“Do you have any suggestions?” Bruce asked as he guided John in a twirl and then dipped him, causing John to let out a cackle of delight. “Is there anywhere you want to go?”

Bruce was still holding John in the dip, and he could feel John’s fingers pressing gently into the back of his neck, massaging the skin there.

“I think I know just the place,” John said. 

“Yeah?” Bruce asked, horribly tempted now that they were dipping to place another kiss on John’s lips.

“There’s a café a couple of blocks from the Pact’s base that does these really big milkshakes in all these different flavors for like, only a few bucks each,” John said. “And the two of us haven’t had desert yet, so…”

“That sounds wonderful,” Bruce said, as he lifted John back up and onto his feet.

“Yeah? It’ll be my treat this time,” John said, straightening his clothes a little as he did. “And I mean actually my treat. I know you don’t like me stealing stuff. Ooh, you know what buddy? The rest of the night is going to be me spoiling you, okay? I may not be able to buy you much but I’ve been told I give a really good foot-rub.”

Bruce couldn’t take it anymore. He was just so madly in love with John that he couldn’t hold it in. He surged forward and pressed his lips to John’s own in a passionate kiss that lasted much longer than the previous ones had.

John’s arms moved up to wrap around Bruce’s shoulders and pull him in closer. Bruce was vaguely aware of the violinist, still playing sweet, slow tunes on the other side of the room. Bruce realized that the musician would have a clear view of everything that he and John were doing, and then he realized that he didn’t care. Not one bit.

He was in love with John Doe, and he didn’t care if the whole world knew about it.

Perhaps this night was going to turn out to be amazing after all, and not just for John, but for Bruce as well.


End file.
